Friday, January 17, 2014

A Todt Hill resident with ties to the Gambino crime family pleaded
guilty Friday to charges in connection with a plot to run the
waste-hauling industry in the greater New York area, according to a report.
Scott
Fappiano was one of two men who each pleaded guilty in federal court to
one count of communicating a threat of bodily harm in interstate
commerce, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, the Journal
News report said.
The other person was Anthony Bazzini of Glen Head, N.Y.
Bharara
said Fappiano, 52, is an associate of the Gambino crime family and that
Bazzini, 54, is a member. The pair were among 32 men with links to
organized crime who were arrested in January 2013 after a four-year
federal investigation into the scheme.
Fappiano and Bazzini
are the 20th and 21st, respectively, to plead guilty to charges stemming
from the investigation, said the Journal News.
Fappiano was one of five Staten Islanders
arrested and accused of participating in a racketeering conspiracy that
attempted to dictate which trash pickup stops a particular hauling
company could use, and extorted payments from companies in exchange for
protection from the mob, according to Advance archives.
Fappiano
and Bazzini admitted to making threats of bodily harm to a person who
was a cooperating government witness, Bharara said, adding that crimes
committed by some of the other 32 suspects include extortion,
loansharking, mail fraud and wire fraud.
It's the second time in less than a week that Fappiano made headlines.
On Sunday, the Advance reported Fappiano agreed to fork over $105,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by his brother, Mark, of West Brighton.
Last May, Fappiano's brother, according to the suit, alleged the man failed to pay a $138,000 debt to him despite having the money to do so.
The
lawsuit argued that Fappiano received a $1.8 million settlement from
the state several years ago for false imprisonment, said an Advance
report.
Fappiano was incarcerated for 21 years for the 1983 rape
of a police officer's wife in Brooklyn, which he didn't commit. DNA
evidence exonerated him more than seven years ago.